California Project Links Spec.-Ed., Regular Teachers

In the most ambitious experiment of its kind to date, California
school officials are recruiting 100 schools for a controversial pilot
program in which special educators and regular classroom teachers will
work together to serve every student who has trouble learning.

The new program was detailed in a draft plan being circulated this
month by the state education department.

With regular and special educators working in tandem, state
officials contend, some students with disabilities may be able to avoid
the stigmatizing labels that come with special education.

In addition, they say, schools may be able to do a better job of
serving the growing number of students who have trouble learning but do
not have a disability that qualifies them for special education.

Many such students are inadequately served now, state school
officials said last week, because they either do not qualify for any
kind of special help or have been inappropriately placed in special
education.

"Regular and special educators must share responsibility for these
students," Superintendent of Public Instruction Bill Honig said in the
draft plan, entitled "The Challenge for the '90's: The California
Framework for Special Education Programs and Services."

"The challenge," Mr. Honig added, "is to create a unified
educational system" for serving all children.

The plan has received mixed reviews so far. Skeptics have said they
fear the kinds of programs Mr. Honig has in mind will result in a
"watering down" of services for handicapped students. And teachers have
questioned whether adequate time and resources would be set aside to
make such a massive undertaking work.

'Regular-Education Initiative'

The concept of collaboration between regular education and special
education is rooted in a controversial movement in special education
known as the "regular-education initiative." Its proponents contend
that mildly handicapped students should be taught entirely in the
regular classroom, rather than being pulled out of class for special
help.

Despite much encouragement from federal special-education officials
in recent years, only a few states have experimented with the idea.
None have undertaken pilot programs on the scale of California's.

In addition to the 100 schools selected this year to participate in
the project, 100 more will be chosen next year.

And, if the pilots are successful, state school officials said they
plan to go to the legislature in 1993 and push for changes in
special-education law that will enable schools across the state to
undertake similar efforts.

Patrick Campbell, the state director of special education, said
California's plan draws on some of the basic concepts of the
"regular-education initiative," but is also broader and more detailed
in scope.

"We're trying to change the whole system rather than part of it," he
said.

In the area of special-education screening, for example, Mr.
Campbell said the pilot schools would be required to set up
interdisciplinary "student study teams" to intervene early and come up
with strategies to help students succeed in the regular classroom.

"Children experiencing difficulty could get direct intervention from
reading specialists, or psychologists," he explained.

The pilot schools would also be encouraged to find ways to break
away from the state's traditional reliance on intelligence tests to
determine if a student is eligible for special education.

"We'll want regular educators to be doing a lot more documenting of
what's going on in the classroom," he said.

With such data, the psychologists doing the testing could change
their focus to a student's individual learning style, he said.

The pilot schools would also have to provide the same "core
curriculum" for both handicapped and nonhandicapped students. Mr.
Campbell said the curriculum should differ only for the most severely
handicapped students who must concentrate on how to live independently
or hold a job.

"So much of special education is drill and practice," he said. "I'm
not sure we stretch these kids enough."

The project also calls for the department to develop a set of
"quality indicators" and testing standards to gauge the effectiveness
of school special-education programs.

Teachers will be encouraged to work together in the regular
classroom in a variety of ways, Mr. Campbell said, some of which might
require waiving state regulations to allow special educators to work
with nonhandicapped students.

A resource specialist, for example, might come into the classroom
and work with all the children who have trouble learning, including
unidentified special-education students.

"She could model what she's doing for the teacher--show her how to
modify the curriculum for those kids," Mr. Campbell explained.

Officials plan to select the first 100 schools for the program in
April. The state education department will provide small grants--about
$5,000 to $10,000 each--to help the schools train staff members to take
on their expanded roles.

State school officials also will conduct training seminars and
workshops throughout the year.

A number of educators have praised the plan, calling it a much
needed reform.

But criticism of the idea has come from the groups most affected by
it--the California Teachers Association and the state branch of the
Association for Children with Learning Disabilities. About half of
California's special-education students are learning disabled.

Groups' Criticism

The teachers' groups warned that the project could overburden
California's teachers, who are already struggling to deal with large
class sizes and an increasingly diverse student population.

"Where does the state allow for the costs of release time to meet
and plan for this?" said Ed Foglia, the CTA president.

Mary Golembesky, president of ACLD-California, said her concern was
the use of special-education resources for nondisabled students.

"We're afraid that the state is watering down what we've got in
special education at a time when there's already a shortage of resource
specialists and special educators," she said.

But Mr. Campbell said state officials would be meeting with those
groups soon in an effort to work out their concerns.

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